


How The World Crumbles

by Finch_Cpt



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Other, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:35:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29641722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finch_Cpt/pseuds/Finch_Cpt
Summary: A genius sole survivor loses their mind slowly after the trauma inflicted by their first soulmate, Nate, eats them up with contempt, hate, and guilt. It takes a lot for them to heal and come to terms with what happened before the bombs while living with the after effects of it as well as the end of the old world they lived in.
Relationships: John Hancock/Sole Survivor (Fallout)





	1. Waking Up

A dull recorded error message echoed through my skull, magnifying the ache growing in my head blossoming into a migraine. I struggled to open my eyes, they felt frozen and the light strained my eyes, worsening the migraine making me feel a different sort of nauseous, a sort that feels like a whole centipede is tickling the back of your throat. The world was spinning, well it’s always spinning, my vision made everything spin in ways it isn’t supposed to. The pod cracked open slowly and allowed my limp body to fall to a cold floor, the loud echoing thud of the impact sounded so alone as I remember what had happened prior to waking up. I looked up at the pod across from my own feeling so empty and worried as I crawled to the control board. Using the stand I pulled myself up to push the release, I needed to see it for myself, I needed to know for sure. It could’ve been a hallucination, a hatred dream during a malfunction in my pod, just frustration toward him. That’s all it could be, I willed myself to imagine as his own icy trap opened.

But it wasn’t a dream, they’re gone. What was I expecting? Of course they’re gone. Tears, I felt tears drop from my face, hot burning tears of frustration. Why did I feel so? There was the definitive emptiness of not being with your soulmate but I had no idea, no comprehension of the emotions processed by my pea brain.

The child I myself had birthed, taken from me. Only an infant, snatched from his father’s, my husband’s arms. Gone. Both were gone. My Nate shot in the struggle, dead and packed in the pod like a freezer dinner. The anchor my soul was tied to was slumped right there in front of my eyes, his own held a vacant stare at the floor. How long had he been like this? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? God, how long was my sleep? Would there be anything in the logs? There were terminals, maybe I’d get a clue on the situation. Maybe I could save my soulmate, maybe his brain was salvageable. If so…

I ran to the terminal left open by the last scientist to check up on our state. Nothing. No dates according to when pods were opened, but other logs, maybe those would help. The sentences in the logs made no sense, well they did but it was inhumane, insane, crazy, awful. This had to be a joke. I know we were frozen but... I don’t want to think it's been too long. Too much time and he’ll be dead, he can’t be dead, not after everything, he can’t.

I need to keep looking for something. I’ll construct a body to contain him and we’ll be fine. I’m not losing my mate. I looked at my left wrist for comfort, where Nate and my mark appeared. 

Nothing. 

It was gone. Everything was gone. Shaun, my baby, my child. Nate, my husband, my soulmate. My home, surely destroyed along with the rest of the world... Absolutely not! It’ll be fine, everything will be fine. I ran to the door, vision blurred, I just needed to find something to store it. Just need something to keep it active, it's not over, it's not. The door wouldn’t budge, there had to be another way. I frantically scrambled to find a new route, as I approached another door opened on the side and a dark hall exposing itself to me, I’d take anything, I was desperate. I stepped forward slowly, the eeriness was suffocating, skittering could be heard from somewhere else. Whatever it was, was disgusting, but its fine, I got this. I continued despite the gross echoing sounds from however far away. Down the hall to my right there was an exposed sort of office space. Battered clipboards, dented folding chairs, coffee mugs, and another terminal with information that made me uneasy. I continued on, another door opening. I froze when I saw it, what had been skittering. I came face-to-face with a housecat sized cockroach.

“No fucking way,” it stared at me muttering to myself. That thing looked dead into my eyes, and then charged. I screamed running back to the office area and started chucking coffee mugs at the vile thing. They simply bounced off it's rough wings as it crept ever closer. That thing could probably eat me, instinct kicked in and I grabbed a folding chair, swinging it down on the giant insect. “What the hell?” I gasped, that was actually terrifying. I was right, my home, the world is gone. I continued on soberly dragging the old chair splattered with roach innards. The thing came from a dining area which had a connecting bathroom and sleeping quarter area, both of which being dead ends, the only other option, a reactor room that was dangerously unstable. Worse yet, there were more of those things in there, somehow not struck by stray electricity. If they can survive in there, then I should pass through no problem, right?

Wrong. Running through the reactor room was excruciating, high voltage electricity and scratches from the huge roaches took a toll on my body. By the time I left there was sweat beading down my forehead, my suit torn and blood running down my arm. I barely had strength so I just ran from the roaches praying the door sensors wouldn’t react to them. They hadn’t as they closed behind me, unfortunately there were more on the other side up the stairs. Feeling done, I swung the chair like a golf club in a sluggish manner, letting go, flinging both the roach and chair into the wall.

“Gross,” I squeaked and continued on, limping to an actual office. Behind the desk a skeleton in his knocked over chair behind a terminal. “Well, I guess all of us had a pretty awful time in here,” I said kicking the bones out of my way so I could crouch in front of the screen. With quick glances over the entries I learned the events that ended the people in my long-term stay residence. But there was no time to dwell on the unimportant, I needed to get a move on. I used the control from the terminal to unlock the door across from the desk. Grabbing the 10mm and heading to the metal cage looking storage closet, I swung the door open and smashed the display case inside using the pistol. I snatched the energy gun and as much ammo as I could hold in the crook of my arm. I charged through the door going into an emergency exit hallway, swinging left and right with the bulky energy weapon. I didn’t have to be elegant, I didn’t have to kill everything, I just needed to get out of there. Just needed to get fresh air and find the parts to store Nate’s brain in a robot and make him live on.

All my obsessive rushed thoughts were interrupted by the final door closing. I had made it to the entrance. The towering gear shaped seal consumed my wish of freedom. “How in the fresh fuck do you-?” I trailed down to a corpse next to what appeared to be a control board, “Bingo!” Approaching the board another revolting roach came out from under the platform the board was raised on. “Fuck me dude,” I slammed my foot down on it's ugly head, sending viscera out splattering on the floor. “No more of this shit, I swear, once I get home and have my mate back- '' I voiced my thoughts to slow them down in hopes of clarity, looking down at where our missing mark was. Except it wasn’t missing anymore, it was replaced. Instead of the comforting blue swirl was a black star cluster. Orion’s belt... Orion, incredibly handsome hunter of the Greek pantheon.

“Hell no,” my breath became shaky, “I already had to find one soulmate, not another, never again. Please, no. I already went through all the shit, I had a kid! Not again,” I was losing it. Nate was a swirl, we were a wreck but we were us. I couldn’t go through the pain of another search, falling for someone just because of destiny, forcing a lie on myself to feel whole. I was hyperventilating, Nate is gone, no matter how much I wanted to be in denial I was forced to accept it. “Air, I need air,” I stumbled to the corpse picking up the pipboy, I had helped work on upgrading and syncing the tech before everything went to hell, it was comforting to have something from the world I knew. I placed it on my wrist covering the mark and did the clasps, when the device sensed a heartbeat it whirred to life asking for information.

Name: ?  
Age: ?  
Sex: ?

I started to fill in my name and frowned, that should be me, but it wasn't. That wasn't who I could be anymore. I couldn’t be a happy, peaceful, normal polite neighbor. I couldn’t be a charming little housewife. That name isn’t me, that surname doesn’t exist now that my husband is gone. It had to be someone else, I needed a new name for the new me, for the one who was going blindly into a new world. Someone I could aim to be, when I could try.

Name: Opal Fabell  
Age: 26  
Sex: Female

The answers gave the device the necessary information to judge my physical condition accurately, and so the computer now had a ragged vault girl displayed on it’s screen with labels of where my injuries were. The symptoms describing the type of injury on each limb. Looking at the age made me think for a minute, my body was perfectly preserved at 26 but how long have I been in here? A damn long time if there are bones, then again things ate the meat off those bones… Who is really to say how long I’ve been down here… CL1K probably, I miss her, I hope she will be up and running up there for me, I need her. “You would know what to do about this,” I plugged the pipboy into the control panel, waiting for it to load desperately slamming the big red button until the alarm started blaring. The door was opening, I started running toward the bridge moving to the exit, tripping over the body I took my new nostalgic chunky bracelet from. “Oh, piss off miserable sod, some of us have lives ahead of us,” I cursed at the skeleton kicking his skull. Some people, eh? … I’m using awful dry humor to cope, I need to stop. I got up and got out of the miserable freezer, dragging myself to the elevator. I was so close to the outside.


	2. Above

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the good Dr. Fabel lies

The air hit hard, it burned my throat but it was still cold and tasted weird, like freezer burn. I guess I was frozen for too long. “Damn I’m not,” I started coughing, violently, my whole body hunching over. It burned, my throat was swelling, the air felt as if it was scratching my lungs when I breathed in. I crumbled on the platform, dropping everything and clutching my neck, wheezing; it felt familiar but my body wasn’t ready to embrace the environment. It was then when I myself went into mental denial again, this couldn’t happen.

“Oh dear!” a bright recorded voice exclaimed nearby. "Doc, you're not well," CL1K, my old dear friend buzzed over to me, she had watched me descend into the ground however long ago it was. Her cutesy ribbons brightened this whole situation, I still had my best friend. Her timing was impeccable, I was just thinking of her when I was leaving.

"I know, I know," I wheezed getting a hold of myself, "the reintroduction to radiation hit me like a bus, it feels like hitting jet." My bot swarmed over me with her sensors to confirm radiation as the cause of my fit and not some other condition. "Yes quite certainly, but also the sudden temperature change," she stated proudly, "your innards are still quite chilled and the outside world has welcomed you with intense sun and warmth. The sudden change has disrupted your senses." She always was a great assistant, noticing effects I would not notice. "It also seems like you've faced something quite traumatic, your brainwaves are incredibly unstable. Might I inquire as to what took place?" I froze. I know she is just trying to be helpful, I know she means well, but I hate her for asking. I don't want to think about it. I started limping off down the platform. "Doctor, let me heal you first," CL1K insisted, dashing to cut me off from my intended path.

"I'm fine, let me go home," I pushed past her. "Doctor! I must object, your body is worn and tired! You have been frozen for a little over two centuries, you must acclimate!" She scolded me. Two centuries? 200 years? I'm 226? That was astounding, the tech I helped develop forever ago was improved to a point it kept me preserved for two hundred years. But also I'm so old, and how long ago was it disrupted? Was it 50/50, only lasting a century at a time. No, it was disrupted because of another person so the tech wasn't limited… How long ago was Shaun? How old is he now? Would he even… I mean most would die in a radioactive waste, but there is at least enough life for someone to have come and ruin my family, my perfect lie, the mask I could hide behind. I grew fond of and attached to the idea of the ideal family, the "American Dream" of a kid, a bot, and a house with a white picket fence.

"Ow! Shit, could've warned me," I glared at CL1K for stabbing me with a stimpack whilst I was sinking into my brain again. She just ignored me and monitored my recovery as I stood annoyed mentally denying and rejecting what happened below ground. Nothing, as far as I'm concerned my husband went on a far away trip to visit his parents with Shaun. My wrist hurt at that thought, I knew it was guilt, but the chance of finding them is near impossible and there is no point causing myself more harm. "Fine, I'm healed, can we just go back home? I wanna check my lab," I tried reasoning with my oh so wonderful robo nurse. "Yes, now that your skin is patched. We may need to find some new equipment there anyways," she agreed and started floating off down the hill, and I followed tiredly. Today had been exhausting, mostly emotionally, but the roaches gave me a fright as well.

The path was much more desolate, the trees were deader than a doornail, and the grass doing no better. We walked past the couple I had seen scrambling what felt like mere hours ago, skeletons hunched over their suitcase, it made me sick. These people were so concerned about their possessions they ended up dead, though I guess they died unknowing. Their distracting items kept them from finding out they'd be rejected at the gate anyway… All the bodies by the gate, I'm so glad I was too distracted by the dead flora to look down at the bones I no doubt stepped over, disregarded… People die all the time, this was fine. Right? If I just ignore the end of the world, it will be fine. Nate and Shaun are visiting Nana and I'm taking care of the house…

We turned the corner passing the blue house. I can see Codsworth, my husband's stupid robo butler, abuse ignoramus. Though I guess ignorance is bliss, except I know he knew. He sensed me and CL1K, "Ah, mum! You're back with madame Click."

I cringed at the greeting, "Heya Codsworth," feigning a smile, like always. I hated his polite demeanor, it was a reminder I couldn't be comfortable in my own house. I had to keep up a front inside the walls of this falling apart house, now even literally falling apart. "I'm so sorry we rushed out, we had to check on Nana. Nate and Shaun are staying with her in these trying times, so it'll just be us at home," I lied through my teeth, to him and myself. If I say it enough, it will feel true, human brains are weak, it'll conform to the idea eventually. He was about to process my physical state and the words I'd just spewed when I dumped more on him, "Anyways I'll be busy checking on my experiment, talk to you at supper." I rushed off before he could say anything but call out to me that I was already late for supper, over two centuries late. I was already having my hand scanned to enter my bunker-lab when he had tried to ask more about Nate and Shaun.

"Mum, how long will they be staying at the distinguished madam's? Shall I send clothes over?" He kept prying, more and more insistent that he should do something for them as I was solving the second part of the lock, a puzzle. "I'm not sure how long, and don't send anything over, it's too dangerous," I shut down his ideas, he paused dejected. No matter how much I hate him for doing nothing, I can't stand making a robot sad. "Why don't you try cooking something for dinner?" I offered an order to make him feel productive and he perked up for a moment, only to sigh again. "I wish I could mum, but the oven and refrigerator has been in disrepair since you left. I'm so terribly sorry, I should've done a better job!" He mechanically wailed.

"It's fine Coddy, the power probably shut off when-" no, don't say it, "when we were gone and didn't pay the bill on time." Saved, score! The bombs never fell, the air isn't burning with radiation… Keep up the lies. "I'll use some spare parts to make a generator, we'll be fine," I smiled at him finally opening the hatch, ready to descend into what is now essentially a time capsule. My lab was beautiful, a technological marvel, just not this one. My small mini bunker lab was decked out to be used for small home projects, like modifying CL1K, or fixing up my neighbor's prosthetic. It also harbored the belongings I had valued enough that I didn't want them destroyed in an argument with…

I'm fond of it, this was a safe place to be. As luck would have it, it seems the solar panels had continued to generate power for when my feet touched the floor, the lights beamed bright and almost clinical. A comforting sanctuary of a room, wonderfully bursting with the belongings of a traumatized yet brilliant partner. 

The nearest corner stood a trunk with my good clothes, its dusted rosy hue a comforting presence. To the left of it was a small bunk built into the wall, the messed up childish covers perfectly preserved with the bright blue, yellow, and pink stars vividly shining while halfway off the mattress, still matching the creased tearstained pillow. A shrine and testament to the restless paranoid nights, to finding comfort in a feeling of alone, behind its linen curtains. It felt unreal now... Little past the head to the right was a long counter, at least large enough for two grown people to lay across; sufficient, I suppose for the massive pile of junk on the right half to occupy it and still for me to have room on the left to work. The far wall was filled with a massive board where thoughts were thrown and clarified on, different equations splashed on at random, different hastened sketches to configure the mechanics of devices, and a grocery list in its upper lefthand corner. It was stained from many uses, many thoughts, many drafts. No matter how much I cleaned it, the board had adopted a red hue, seemingly critical and maybe a tad angry. On the final wall, to my right, was a built in bookcase, then again most everything was built in, I didn’t want to trip over anything. I thought it practical and safer this way. The shelves were filled with all sorts of things from what should be there like books and art, to the less expected such as stuffed animals and teapots. Then right in the center was an old sturdy oak table with another mess all over. There were candles all over, some projects scattered, half finished drawings sprawled out, holotapes stacked like cards making a dozen or so tents; but the most important thing was sitting on the side facing the board, the terminal. It was used for recording my projects, what adjustments I’d made, different discoveries made, and of course it was also used to play my holotapes. This whole thing was my home, true home.

I reached up, standing on my toes, and closed the hatch to escape the outside, but being underground so soon again was not a peaceful moment, this was my safest place but I felt sick. It was silent, it left unease under my skin, like something was waiting or maybe willfully neglecting me... The most recent trauma was fresh in my mind and body, I was going to vomit if I lingered; so to remedy the nausea building in my stomach I popped a Marty Robbins holotape that was on the table into my pipboy and listened to him sing about his lady in El Paso until I felt far away from the reality I was living, until I felt back at home and comfortable in myself. To continue fooling myself I slipped into some old clothes that I had left in the trunk. A loose-fitting white linen shirt and some nice black slacks oh, they made me feel like a pirate and that's all I really needed. It mostly covered my bright blue and yellow nightmare suit, not completely of course but enough to make me forget about Vault 111. This felt more like me, I could finally start working on that generator,of course I could always try to hook up my emergency solar power to the entire house... but I'm selfish. I wasn't going to give my lab’s energy to the whole house and sacrifice my ability to work down here.

I worked on the generator for a couple of hours, using whatever material I could without making the pile collapse. It ended up quite small, it would work for the time being. I already had plans to create a wind turbine for it later, but for now it can convert the energy in energy cell rounds into usable energy; in theory it would be enough for Codsworth to make a meal with whatever we could scrounge up.

To go test that theory I got out of my bunker, washed with a deep sense of relief to be above ground again. I ignored it, these stupid feelings, they didn't matter because nothing bad happened. Nobody's really…

I was so absorbed in thought I bumped into CL1K, a little hard. "Ow," I sucked in some air and rubbed the spot where my forehead had the audacity to get in the way. She just stayed hovering in front of me, blocking the way out of the bedroom, saying nothing. I stared hard, focusing on every small gear I could see turning in the gaps of the shell I'd made for her. I should make a new one when I have some spare time. We spent an eternity just idle.

In truth I really cared for my robot assistant, she was always there with the right tool at the right time; administering the proper meds and vitamins when I overworked to keep my health from declining drastically. I look fondly on nights I'd sneak to the lab and toil away on some project until the crack of dawn. She understood that was all I could do with everything going on; she didn't try to stop me from enjoying what little I could for as long as I could. CL1K was mean as well, of course, one had to be in order to deal with a stubborn cranky creator such as myself. Every little thing may have been according to her program but I appreciated her, especially because she was honest when I needed it most.

"You are not well," she blankly stated, no chirpiness, no grace. She laid it on me flat, "You are avoiding the issues at hand. You lied to Codsworth, you're lying to yourself, this isn't the right course of action." As per usual, honest when I need to hear it. Yet I refused to listen, I didn't want to face the issue, I didn't want to admit the truth, there were too many messy emotions to dig through if I did and I couldn't. I felt sick again. "I know Nate and Shaun never came up the elevator, they aren't at Nana's. Tell yourself the truth," she commanded me, she was rough with me, just throwing it out there, catching me red-handed.

"No," I persisted, "everything is fine, my soulmate is alive and well. He's at his mother's with our child. He has to be, we were fated to be together, we have to be fine. We need to be," I felt the tears fall. Hot. I was pissed, I wasn't supposed to be. I need… I'm not sure anymore, but my role is that of a happy housewife, I should just play the part. Yes, I'm just tending the house, as I should. I wiped my eyes, getting rid of the pesky ideas of the cold corpse left by that rugged man. I knew you could never trust a bald man. No, wait, what man? Nothing happened. I took a really long nap, and now I was waiting for my family to return from their trip. Yes. That is all.

"We're leaving," CL1K started off and quickly floated out of the bedroom, I was stunned, she couldn't leave me. She couldn't, she was everything, I made her, she was my child! She meant more than any of this soulmate shit would ever, she and I had a true bond, she couldn't leave me in this mess. I can't do this alone. In a blind panic I ran after her, "Wait! Please don't leave me!" I screamed tripping over my own feet and debris, more tears flowed down my cheeks and blurred my vision. I followed after her begging, my voice going hoarse until we got to the bridge where she suddenly stopped, and turned back to face me. "You either gather anything you think you might need and join me because I said we were leaving, or I leave you here to wait for a husband who is never coming and even if he was he would," she stopped short, she may have just a programmed personality with electronic feelings but she understood pain, she knew not to say what we both knew. I was again startled.

"Ha," a dry sort of titter escaped from me as I mulled over the ultimatum before me. I hated ultimatums, they're stupid and manipulative and if you need a loved one to choose then you really don't love them. She was really putting me in a pinch, she knew I most certainly wouldn’t be able to be at ease without her presence and the facade would fall as I lost my sanity listening to Codsworth nag about everything. "Fine," I wiped at my face that was once again all wet and a mess, "let me go pack a bag." I turned back to head down the quiet road I'd been placed on by the government, the small neighborhood that was my post as a breeder, to get to my bunker in the house I was supposed to take care of. I passed the dilapidated and destroyed houses of my old neighbors, they felt like crushed dreams, the remnants of an older lost world, but it wasn't I didn't want to believe it was. I had completely ignored these just moments before, there was even a bathtub just sitting amongst the dead grass. Everything felt torn apart, it felt fitting considering my inner turmoil, of which I was considering what rationale I was to use to explain leaving. Maybe I could just say I'm taking advantage of Nate's absence to run away from him… I was a coward. But that was my decision as I reached the house, I was going to run away.

“Are you alright mum?” Again I cringed, he never learned, I know it's his programming but it made me want to turn him into scrap metal. “I’m fine, I just had a little spat with click, she is upset I was,” I glanced to the side looking at the bookshelf in the entryway, “unprepared. I don’t have all the parts I need so we’re going to go run some errands once I grab some necessities.” I stared at the burnt photos of our separate platoons from bootcamp. It was so long ago when I sold away my life to the government, I was eighteen, my parents had abandoned me via joint suicide while I was at school just a year prior, I had no money and no future. I may have been smart but I couldn’t go to college since I didn’t complete highschool, I dropped out because of my mental state…

“Alright then, shall I see you off?” The robot inquired what I expected from him, maybe he wasn’t so bad, I didn’t even address me the way I hated most this time. “No thank you, I’ll be fine,” I started off down the hallway. “Yes mum!” he confirmed, oh so annoyingly. I mentally retracted my decent thought of him, and entered the bedroom, holding my breath until I was in front of the entrance to my bunker; it gaped begging me to go in and never return above ever again.

I finally let go of the generator, or I guess it was more of an energy converter, to climb down the hatch, I had never closed it before rushing off. I was going to leave for certain, but I was debating leaving the energy- thingy for Codsworth. He didn't do anything particularly wrong, he followed his program, but I still didn't like him and wasn't quite ready or willing to forgive him. Also it would be extremely useful to have on the road, if I found a hotplate it could help me with meals, could heat up water to clean my clothes, or maybe give CL1K a boost for any attacks; I doubted those giant roaches were the worst of things out here… To bring it with me would be wisest, I'd put it to better use than shaping up the house. Another decision, this felt unusual, choosing. When Nate was… home, I didn’t decide what I'd do.

I descend once again, feeling a weird sense of urgency the moment I’m in. I immediately rushed digging through my trunk, clean colors and wonderful textures passed through my hands and over my shoulders. Dark velvets, monochrome wools, bright polyesters, assorted denims, plain cottons, and my favorite pastel linens… I love linen, such a great word for a wonderfully textured fabric, always so comforting and smelled divine when washed, linen… 

At the bottom was what I sought, my pack, a sturdy moderately sized bag. Nothing too special about it except for the patches I’d attached to give it some life, though in that moment I stared at them with disapproval. Dread for a patch displaying a Fabulous Las Vegas sign dug at my stomach, I didn’t hate the place, I just missed it so much. It was too much too fast, to get nostalgic when my head was so fucked up. I wanted to get back to being fine, no I wanted happiness… I'll have it when I'm free? Right? That's how that works… I sighed trying to relieve myself of these complicated thoughts, and grabbed the bag which had brought me more things to torment my brain. I looked around at the clothes I threw around me and decided to take one more article of clothing, my gown, it was a soft piece I had made on my own, in this very bunker as well. It made me feel like an older era ghost, maybe a noble awoken by the call of a siren and drowned on their voyage. I tenderly folded it all small and put it in the front pocket of my bag.

Looking around I was sure what I would need, I felt I wanted to take the whole bunker with me and lacked focus for what I should do. The despair sunk into me once again, like a boomerang I kept tossing it away but it would come back… I ignore it again and step in front of the shelves, reaching for a large thermos to shove in the right side pocket, but first I shake it. To my delight the clinking of wonderful candy was heard, my stash had been replenished perhaps two days before… Lucky me, I placed it in the pocket and continued around to the counter looking at my kit. A small box with tinkering essentials, just in case, it went into the bottom of my bag. I looked at everything in the massive pile and also threw in some duct tape for good measure. 

Glancing at the counter I decided I should bring my gloves as well, to protect my palms. I rolled up my sleeve to unlatch the pipboy, I hadn't taken it off when I threw my shirt on and it was now in the way. Eventually the mini computer slipped off, landing on the counter with a dull thud, only after then I pulled the worn leather onto my somewhat delicate hands until my fingers poked out in and between each the fold of fabric met my skin. It was as if I had been reunited with my second layer of skin, I was more complete. The pipboy stared at me like it expected something and I knew it would be smart to bring it along, it was a wrist computer, it would be useful, but it was a bulky reminder of the vault. I already knew what I should do, but I didn't want to; I rolled my sleeve back down and put it back on, there was no point leaving such valuable tech behind. The last thing I could think I’d possibly absolutely need, even if the necessity of them were questionable, I grabbed all the holotapes I could, stuffing them into the left side pocket. 

I looked around one last time feeling nostalgic, then ascended the ladder, escaping above.


End file.
